How to Refinish Old Painted Hardwood Floors Without Sanding
- 1). Load your rotating buffer with a rough screening pad. Go over the whole floor with it, running the machine with the direction of the floorboards. The screen will take up most of the top layer of paint.
- 2). Vacuum the floor. Put the medium screening pad in your machine and screen the floor again, in the same manner as before, taking up the last of the paint.
- 3). Vacuum, then screen a third time with your fine screening pad, getting it smooth and flat. The original finish of the floor (whether stained or not) should be fully visible, but with no shine to it.
- 4). Go over the floor by hand with tack cloths to take up any residual dust.
- 5). Apply a coat of floor polyurethane with a brush, starting in the far corner from the entrance and working your way across the room with the direction of the floorboards. Apply it in a thin, even coat. Let it dry overnight.
- 6). Buff the new gloss by hand, with extra-fine sandpaper, sanding in short, quick strokes with the direction of the grain, just enough to dull the shine. This will allow the next layer of polyurethane to adhere. Use tack cloths to take up the dust.
- 7). Brush on a second polyurethane layer in the same manner as the first. Let it dry, buff it, and brush on a third layer. Let the third layer set for two days before using the floor.
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